Hunted
by bennettparkersalvatore
Summary: When a gang of Witchhunters invades on her attempt at a semi-normal life, Bonnie is forced into the last alliance she ever thought she'd be in.
1. Chapter 1

**HUNTED**

 _Occult Studies_

* * *

Elena told her she needed to take a few deep breaths and try to get back to normal, then she laughed at the word and rolled her eyes, "I mean in between, escaping death daily, time traveling and being weekend hostesses to a house full of 18th century vampires and roomies with the new Caroline," she added, stuffing a biology book in her messenger bag. "Oh, and dodging a deranged psychopath who killed his siblings over daddy issues and has a schoolboy crush on you." Bonnie toyed with the prospect of cloaking her. Elena's biology professor was notorious for making students walk the plank if they were a millisecond late, and she'd probably be guillotined for an absence. But Bonnie was too tired to even be thinking about magic, especially stupid spells that reminded her of even stupider boys. Unaware of her bestfriend's plotting, Elena grabbed a heart printed thermos out of the mini-fridge. "I took the liberty of making a schedule for you," she threw over her shoulder in pursuit of the door. "Get dressed. You have occult studies at 10:00." The door slammed behind her and opened again two swear words later.

"I thought she'd never leave," Caroline moaned, yanking a disheveled Stefan by his leather jacket. Somehow they went from two vampires to one - a mess of bloodstained clothes, chattering fangs and bulging veins . . . and other . . . bulges.

When they rolled by her bed like a bundle of tumbleweed, Bonnie cleared her throat. "I'm still here."

"You can leave," Caroline managed to breath out as Stefan kissed her neck.

"Or she can join us," he said. "I've always wondered what it'd be like to-"

"Okay! This was actually better than coffee," she sprang out of bed and grabbed the nearest bag that remotely looked like hers. "But it was worse than Whitmore's cafeteria food because now i'm nauseous." Watching her bestfriends grope each other in dirty clothes with no humanity wasn't the morning she was looking forward to.

"Your loss. Stefan is excellent at-"

Luckily she thrust herself into the hallway before catching that last part.

x

It was gorgeous outside: blue skies spread over lush trees and warmth. For a moment it reminded her of the summer before sophomore year when they'd spend all day at the Gilbert house, torturing Jeremy and doing things that seemed foreign to her now - like running through the sprinklers and sprawling across the lawn to share secrets until their skin turned toasty. She missed those days. She didn't have to worry about art school bound ex boyfriends who didn't return her calls, emotionless vampires who'd try to kill her on a whim and a stalker she couldn't take down because then she'd kill the whole coven. . . and of course her new mother hen, Damon. He was starting to spend so much time on campus that she told him he needed to just pick a major and room with them, to which he responded with a snooty "I'm more of an off-campus kind of guy."

Bonnie had just enough time to grab a proper pick me up from the cafe before heading to her Ancient and Medieval Magics class. Coffee in hand, and the confidence that this wasn't going to be a total disaster, like French class senior year, she walked over the threshold with her chest poked out. She'd made originals cry, she took down an immortal warlock, she'd studied ancient magical texts like most of her peers studied Twitter and she could turn a vampire inside out with just a glare and a sexy chant. She'd own this class.

"Good to know I have a slacker partner in crime," Kai said, appearing beside her. "Late on the first day, Bon? I'm shocked."

"I'm not late," she forced a semi-civil tone and kept her eyes fixed on anything but him. "I thought I told you to stop following me."

"And I thought I told you that I had something important to tell you. It's like really important, but you don't answer my calls or my texts."

"You know rejection is the same in the twenty-first century as it was in the twentieth," she rolled her eyes. It was the only acceptable outlet for her own chaotic emotions. "Maybe I can't kill you, but I can maim you and I will if you don't stop harassing me."

"I'm not harassing you. I just need you to give me a second to intrude on your little 'i'm a normal college girl and nothing screwed up is going on in my life' to tell you that something screwed up is going on."

"I don't care," she told him. "In fact the only thing I care about right now is," she glanced at the schedule in her hand. "Ancient and Medieval Magics, Modern Occult Practices, and History of Salem Witches. Funny, I don't see Malachai Parker or his lies anywhere on this schedule."

"Keep ignoring me," he growled and for a moment she forgot that he was a witch and not a werewolf. "When you're back in that crappy little cemetery, don't say I didn't try to warn you." And just like that he was gone, leaving a shiver to crawl down her spine.

Aside from her run-in with the cuffed jeans wearing weasel, her day turned out to be pleasantly normal. Granted, occult studies was more history than Harry Potter, she enjoyed it. It reminded her of Grams. One of her professors gave an assignment. She'd have to write everything she knew about the Salem witch trials without searching the internet or using a textbook. The only thing she knew about Salem was that her descendants fled after the witch trials, but she'd sound like a nutcase if she said that, and she couldn't cheat because that'd take the fun out of everything, but she didn't want to make something up, she'd sound like a moron.

She smiled to herself.

This was her biggest problem right now.

Homework.

She could get used to this.

x

Damon pulled the blanket off of her and tossed it on to Elena's bed. It was then that she realized she'd fallen asleep on her notebook. "Get dressed, Sleeping Beauty. We're going out for dinner."

"Where's Elena?" Bonnie asked, wiping her eyes and mentally smacking Damon for barging in the way he did.

He kneeled beside her bed.

"Turns out she had a late night at the hospital, and I have reservations for two," he said, and when she didn't look like she wanted to do somersaults, he continued with a wag of his dark brows "It'll be fun. We can do that Lady and the Tramp bit with a plate of spaghetti."

"Eww," she turned over on her other side.

"Come on. You know you want to," he told the back of her head.

" I'm sure if you call Elena and ask her again she can compel someone to let her leave her shift early or something."

"Fine," he rose to his full height. "You stay here. In this cold dorm room . . . with Miss Cuddles . . . and homework . . . we'll talk later."

"Wait," she called. "Before you go, what do you know about the Salem witches?"

"Come with me and i'll tell you everything you need to know."

He smirked like he was so smart, and she glared at him because he was.

"Fine. I'll meet you outside in 15."

When did all the guys in her life get so annoying?

x

When she was trapped in the prison world with him for all those months, he was the only option. She couldn't tell if she genuinely kind of liked his company or if she was just desperate. Aside from her threatening to jab a fork through his hand if he ordered spaghetti, dinner was . . . nice.

Damon spent about five minutes filling her in on the Salem witch trials and at least two of those minutes consisted of him saying "blah-blah-blah". When she told him what Kai said to her before class, he looked wary, but quickly brushed it off with a "Weren't you the one that told me anyone who believed him was an idiot or something like that?" he followed his words with a sip of bourbon and must've had second thoughts about the cavalier approach because before she could respond he said. "I'll take care of Kai."

She tilted her head. "Damon-"

"-I won't kill him. I'll just hurt him a tiny little bit," he smiled and looked so sickeningly innocent that she thought about jabbing that fork in his hand again.

x

The new Caroline wasn't much different from the old Caroline when you thought about it. Still control-freaky and chatty, only now they had to worry about her snapping their necks when they weren't looking or ordering someone to cut out a major organ. She also turned out to be Kai repellent. When ever she was with Caroline he was no where to be found. She guessed the runt wasn't as reckless as she thought.

She needed help picking out an outfit for another audition, and according to her, Bonnie was her last resort. Otherwise, she would've asked someone with better fashion-sense. "Thanks, Caroline."

" You have to know your style is sucky," she elaborated, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You're my advice guru. Not my fashion guru, but you better help me pick out something good or else i'll compel all of your professors to give you failing grades, then i'll kill them once the semester is over."

"Got it," she said, unfazed by her threats. She didn't want it to come to a dark place with Caroline, so she'd keep her sass to a minimum, but she was more than capable of turning her into a vampire shiskabob. "You start over here, i'll start there and we'll meet in the middle."

They left the boutique with two dresses. A short red one for her date with Stefan and a yellow ruffled one for her audition, which she made Bonnie promise to attend or she'd bite the first person she made eye contact with.

Later she met Elena back at the dorms.

There was a freshman movie night with free pizza and beer.

It was the normal thing to do so they went.

They ate until they were stuffed. Drank until they were tipsy. And ended up talking about hot guys in their classes. Handfuls for Elena, none compared to Damon of course and only two for Bonnie, because occult studies wasn't exactly a magnet for hot guys. They went from talking about stranger guys to the strange guys they knew.

"Damon is worried about me. With Stefan roaming around without his humanity - I think he spends time here to keep an eye on me."

"He loves you. It's sweet."

"Jer, loves you too," she assured. "Just give it time. You two will figure it out."

Bonnie nodded in agreement, but this was the first time in a while that she wasn't thinking about her relationship with Jeremy. He was happy. Safe. And miles away from Mystic Falls.

She was running late for class and slightly hung over.

Not the best start, but certainly not the worst.

The worst was when she saw Kai. Front and center. In her class. Wearing a Whitmore sweatshirt and looking more like an ordinary college boy than a knife wielding psychopath. It took her the strength of heaven and earth to go to her seat without setting him on fire.

She wouldn't fall for his mind games.

No.

She'd pretend he didn't bother her.

Like he was just another student.

A student who hadn't stolen pieces of her magic, stabbed her, shot her with an arrow, drugged her then stuffed her in a trunk and abandoned her.

Nope.

She'd pretend he was just another nameless face in her class.

She sat as far away from him as the room would permit and she didn't look at him once, not even when he took every opportunity he could to ask or answer a question.

Her Salem Witch trials professor asked to speak with her after class and she had to admit, it freaked her out. He stared at her for most of the class period, like he'd seen her picture on a wanted list on their day off or something. When she was on her way out he stopped her with a "You're Sheila's granddaughter. Sheila Bennett."

"Yeah," she nodded, mustering up a knotted expression that was meant to be a smile. "I am."

"I followed her teachings since I was a kid. She's the one who made me into to the man I am today. I went into occult studies because of her."

There were a few seconds of silence before she found her social graces.

"I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that," she finally said, feeling at ease enough to unfold her arms.

"I have something to show you," he said. "I've been having it for years and I think you'd like to see it. Would you meet me in my office around 5:00?" If her eyes were closed, she might've agreed instantly. His tone was smooth and sweet like molasses, but his eyes were unnaturally pale. She'd looked into the eyes of some real creeps over the years, and none of them had eyes that immediately made her feel like their prey. If eyes were truly the windows to souls, his were stained glass.

"Uh, I-"

"It'll only take a minute."

"Bonnie," Kai breezed into the almost empty classroom. "There you are, babe. I've been looking everywhere for you." He sounded rehearsed. Like he'd repeated those lines a million times on his way over and was still paranoid about messing up one word. It all threw her off guard. She just stood there with a dumbstruck look on her face, her mossy eyes searching his for an answer to his crazy. It didn't take long for him to hover over her. "Uh, it's Caroline. She's, um, she needs you. Right now."

She was afraid to imagine what Caroline had gotten into. Did she gouge out someone's eyes for not praising her audition? Did she get mad at the world because every strand of her hair wouldn't stay in place and decided to go on a rampage? Was she feeding on students in the open while Stefan tore heads off in the background? She managed to say that she had to go in one breath before she rushed out of the class. Her flats hammered against the linoleum, cement, grass then finally the hardwood. She shoved the door open expecting to see something that resembled an Anne Rice novel, like a group of debutantes in ballgowns bleeding out into champagne glasses - but no one was there.

And she just stood there for a moment, watching the fire grow just as enraged as she was, listened to it crackling across the room, with Kai at her back.

She turn around so fast that her hair whipped her in the face and before anything could come out of that mouth of his, her rounded knuckles made a clean path until they scraped against his teeth and he stumbled back. A sharp pain jolted up her hand. "Porem Motus," she chanted and the spell flicked his body against a door across the hall.

Kai fell into a pile on the floor and groaned.

She looked at her fist. Bright liquid filled the lines of her new scrapes. She opened her palms, closed them, then opened them again. Not broken. Even if it were it would've been worth it.

He scooted until his back was flat against the door. Bonnie stood over him with eyes so narrowed that or her pupil and a splash of green was visible. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to keep a witch hunter from making you his mantel piece." He lifted his head to look at her and threw a smarmy "Now I just may beat him to the punch" her way.

Bonnie's eyebrows met for a convention in the middle of her head, where they agreed that Kai was full of it. "A witch hunter?"

"Yeah, you know. Cult of crazies that hunt witches for sport."

"I know what a witch hunter is, Kai" she spat out. "And I also know what a pathological liar is. And a stalker. Why did you sign up for that class? No, better yet, why are you still here? "

"Because I enjoy this back and forth with you. It's kind of kinky."

A bystander walked by and gave her a weird look - like _she_ was the bad guy.

"Why are you still here?" she asked with more gruff than before.

"I told you," he coughed, undoubtedly trying to gain her sympathy.

"If this was the 1600s, i'd probably believe you, but since it isn't," she looked both ways. "Marmus-"

"I'm telling the truth!" he yelled. "They're here. A crap load of them. What better way to weed out witchy wooers than to infiltrate occult studies?"

A part of her brain started to actually believe him. She'd have to close that section off for renovation.

After clearing the dryness from her throat she said, "I don't believe you. Even if I did, I can take care of myself."

And she left him out in the hall.

With his bloody, lying mouth.

x

Caroline got the role. Bonnie wasn't sure if it was because she wore the short red dress or her talent alone.

Either way, she got the part and it'd be a welcomed distraction . . . for all of them.

If she was in rehearsals, she couldn't get into trouble - much trouble- she couldn't get into much trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hunted**

 _Things That Go Hunt in the Night_

* * *

"What about Daisy?" Elena pipped, her finger trailing the word. She was holding The Big Book of Baby Names and drinking coffee out of a Whitmore mug. Damon sat on the opposite couch, with something stronger in his cup.

"And let me guess, you'll want the next one to be named Gatsby?" he said almost exclusively with his thick expressional eyebrows. Elena pouted in response and closed the book. They watched one another for a moment, her doe eyes begging and his resistant. Doe eyes won out.

"Fine. Daisy it is," he sipped from his cup. "Just don't expect a playmate for her. We still have Stefan, you know. Once his humanity is back, it's open season for all our four-legged friends."

"Stefan wouldn't." She tilted her head, with the tiniest smirk and said "Besides, it won't just be my cat. It'll be all of ours. Right, Bonnie?"

"Right," Bonnie agreed without really knowing what she was agreeing to. She was trying to cram three chapters in her head, and one of them was particularly boring. At one point, she thought it could've been used as punishment. She knew the gist of her friends' little spat - Elena wanted a cat. Damon didn't. Elena spent the morning trying to get Damon excited about said cat. Damon resisted. Earlier that morning, while Bonnie was trying to catch up on sleep, they had a similar argument with opposite roles. Damon wanted to get a place of his own closer to Whitmore and he wanted Elena to live there too. Elena wanted to stay on campus. Damon showed her different houses, all of them very picket _fencey._ Elena resisted.

Since they were talking about houses, _and_ remembering that Damon was 174 and not 12 years old, Bonnie asked him to meet a potential buyer. Someone was interested in her dad's house, well her house - even though it was hers by law, it still didn't feel like she owned it. The same went for Grams' house. She hadn't even been able to go back there, let alone call it hers.

Damon agreed to meet the buyer with her, and she fought the urge to leap into his arms and pinch his cheeks.

He even offered to drive them back to school.

Sometimes he really did come in handy.

 _Sometimes._

 **x x x**

They were in road trip mode. Three burgers so greasy they stained the brown paper bags with yellowish spots. Three vanilla milkshakes, one spiked with Bourbon. Damon at the wheel, Elena riding shotgun and Bonnie sprawled across the backseat while Damon watched her through his rearview mirror and moaned about not spilling anything in his car.

"Won't that be weird? Selling the house you grew up in?" Elena asked between monitored bites.

"As opposed to burning it down?" Damon snarked, his eyes back on the road.

Elena reprimanded the side of his face with her signature Damon-specific disappointed mommy glare. "I wouldn't be totally against Bonnie turning you into a frog."

Bonnie smirked, ignoring their banter. "I don't know . . . I had a lot of good memories growing up there, but they just kinda stopped once my dad started working so much. I spent more time with you and Caroline," she said, "I mean, I had my first kiss in Caroline's backyard."

"And you got ready for your first date at my house, remember?"

"Ugh, how can I forget? Jeremy spilled paint on my dress before my date showed up and then my date turned out to be a moron."

"True, but atleast you looked hot aside from the arts and crafts situation," she smiled.

Damon made an exaggerated yawning sound and turned up the radio. Both girls insulted him at the same time, knowing he could still hear him with his vamp hearing.

 **x x x**

The next morning, Bonnie opened the door with half a bagel hanging out of her mouth and a stack of occult books pressed against her hip. Every bone in her _almost late for class because she stayed up all night scouring the campus for the fangy version of Bonnie and Clyde_ froze. Her eyes looked wider than any full moon she drew energy from.

She didn't expect to see her that day . . . or any other day, at least not before her 25th birthday . . . and she just stood there for a moment trying to figure out if she was having another post-prison world spazz or if her mom was really standing in front of her. Once it clicked that Abby wasn't a figment of her newly colorful imagination, she ripped the bagel out of her mouth and blurted out "What are you doing here?"

"I got your message," she said looking over Bonnie's shoulder, undoubtedly for other vampires.

"My message?" She backtracked until she remembered the video message she left her when she'd just gotten back from the other side, found out she was the anchor between the land of the living and the land of the supernatural dead and enrolled at Whitmore. A lot had gone on since then, but none of that included so much as a text from Abby. A vertical line separated her brows. " I left that months ago."

"I know. By the time I got it, you were . . . gone," she recounted with a heaviness that Bonnie hadn't expected. "I couldn't get ahold of you."

She felt herself stiffen against Abby's words, making herself an invisible armor of sorts. She had to remember that they were just that . . . words, but if she was being honest, they weren't and she hated that Abby could always waltz in and make her feel like some pathetic little girl who just wanted mommy's attention. After grimacing at the thought, she said, "Well, I'm back now."

"Jeremy told me. He's been keeping me in the loop about everything," she said. "He even paid your phone bill so we could hear your voice and leave messages for you." She nodded her head. "You have a good one. He cares a lot about you."

"Yeah, everyone keeps saying that." By everyone she mostly meant Elena. He hadn't reached out to her since she got back. It's not like she needed him or anything. It just would've been nice to hear his voice, or hear about art school or if he'd drawn any pictures of her or something. Then again she couldn't expect him to be hung up on the past. Not when he was just trying to move on from Mystic Falls and its deadly charm. Oddly enough, she was always in the middle of that _charm._ No wonder he wasn't calling. He was probably just as happy to leave her behind as he was to leave their loony town. Ouch. "Obviously, you haven't spoken to him in a while."

"What happened?" She reached out to touch Bonnie's shoulder, but she shifted her weight to her other leg to avoid dead-beat, vamp-mama pda. Abby withdrew her hand. "I thought we were okay now."

"You come back after i've been trapped on the other side and in a prison world for months and you're asking me about my breakup? No ' _how's it going?'_ ' _are you okay?_ '" Bonnie gave her a humorless chuckle. "I don't know why i'm so shocked. You've never been there for me. Why start now, right?"

She knew exactly why all of the volatile feelings toward her mom were bombarding her - but she couldn't tame them. A couple of weeks ago, she'd looked her up and drove out to Georgia to give her the cure she'd taken from 1994. It was partially her fault that Abby was turned, and she wanted to make things right. She started seeing all these visions of Abby moving back to Mystic Falls and living in Grams' old house, and her visiting on the weekend when she was down from Whitmore. It wasn't until she saw Abby having lunch with Jamie, laughing while they scrolled through pictures on his cellphone or Abby and a group vampires hunting together that she realized, Abby was doing fine without her. Whether she was human or vampire, her life would never include the daughter who reminded her of parts of herself she wanted to forget. At the time, she was philosophical about it - thinking that maybe the cure was meant for Damon and it was for the best. Now she'd taken a sharp turn from Philosophical Blvd to Pissed Off Avenue.

"I just . . .I thought it was nice that you had someone like that in your life," she smoothed her palm over her chestnut colored waves. " I'm not here to upset you, Bonnie."

"Again, why are you here?"

"To give you this," her hand disappeared in her coat pocket and came out with an amulet dangling from a thin, gold chain. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Grams gave this to me a little while before I moved away. She spelled it to protect any Bennett who wore it. I think she would've wanted me to give it to you."

"So you drove all the way here to start a family tradition?"

Abby ignored her sassiness. "I overheard some witches downsouth. They were talking about witch hunters. I don't know how serious it is, but I know you're here alone."

"I'm not alone, I have-"

" _Vampires_ ," she interrupted, stone-faced, saying the word as if she was spitting out something rotten. "That's as good as being alone. A witch's powers are amplified in numbers. That's why they stick together. "

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. If one more person schooled her on the ways of witches, she'd scream until her voice gave out, then maybe show them how much she knew now. She wasn't the same 16 year old who didn't know the difference between the tooth-fairy and hocus pocus.

"Well, I've been on my own all this time and i've gotten really good at taking care of myself," she pointed out, going from sassy teenager to warrior princess in .2 seconds. "If witch hunters are here, i'll make them wish they weren't."

"It's not that simple-"

" _It is_ ," she shut the door behind her, and side-stepped Abby. "I'm late."

And she walked away without looking back.

It seemed she was doing that a lot lately.

x x x x

Bonnie's Ancient and Medieval Magics professor didn't like her very much.

She yawned in class and it was like she morphed into the cat who ate the canary.

"You find my class tiring Miss Bennett?" she croaked, adjusting her thin-wire glasses on her hooked nose. Heads turned in unison for the showdown, Kai's included.

Bonnie sat up straight. "No. I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night. "

"Well, now that you're awake, i'm sure you wouldn't mind telling us-"

"I wasn't asleep," she defended, sucking all of the sass out of her tone, but still managing to get the death glare.

"I suppose winking both eyes for a minute straight is the new hip thing to do?" A hum of giggles sounded across the auditorium. It spurred her on. "Now which tree is known as a tree of new beginnings?"

She could've said something cute - but clearly this woman didn't do cute - and she didn't know the answer because when you spend all night trying to make sure your vampire friends don't decapitate anyone on campus, you don't have much time to finish your homework.

"The birch tree," came a familiar irritant.

"Very nice, Mr . . ."

"Parker."

"Very nice, Mr. Parker."

x x x x

"Did you get everything sorted out with your friend?" her Salem Witch trials professor asked after class. He seemed a lot less creepy - maybe because he didn't stare at her like he was trying to pick her out of a criminal line-up this time and his eyes didn't look so ghostly. They were more of a charcoal color now. Weird. Maybe they were always that color and she was dealing with some residual freak-out sessions from being trapped alone all that time. Gosh,she hoped not. The last thing their group needed was another freakout. They were already a gang of vampires and witches . . . well, witch. Kai was so _not_ apart of their "gang". . . anyway a group consisting of supernaturals should've at least been sane, right?

She drew a blank for a moment until she remembered Kai barging in and lying about a friend needing her a few days ago. She nodded. "Uh, yeah, she's fine."

"Well, she's certainly in good hands." His words welcomed a silence that Bonnie tried to cushion with a tight-lipped smile. He offered an uncomfortable smile of his own, then asked "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure."

"Mind if I shut the door?"

Bonnie wasn't sure if he wanted to close it because he didn't want anyone else barging in on them or if he'd suddenly go all witch-slayer-hunter on her. She was ready for either. She had a lot of rage these days. An occult studies professor gone rogue would be the perfect punching bag.

"Okay."

He flicked his hand, and the door closed, the lock clicked shortly after. Her professor was a witch - she definitely wasn't expecting that. He didn't give her the usual vibe she felt when she was around other witches. Her expression must've given her away because as he shuffled through his bag he confirmed what she still managed to question even though she saw him in action. "It took me forever to learn how to do that without chanting."

"I had no idea," said Bonnie, eyeing him for other clues she may have missed. She started at his jet black hair and worked her way down to his Birkenstocks. Nothing witchy about him whatsoever. Aside from his spooky eyes, he looked like the type of guy she'd see pushing a stroller around Mystic Falls with his wife waddling behind him. If he was a secret witch, no telling who else she'd overlooked in the past.

"Me either, until Sheila helped me access my magic," he said, finding what he needed and zipping his bag.

She took a second to notice the engraved leather covered book, but jumped back to the story that seemed hot off the presses. "What happened to it?"

"I never had it. I didn't even know I was witch."

"Wow, my Grams couldn't wait to tell me," she smiled thinking about it. Grams barging in her room on her 16th birthday at 12:00am on the dot with a feather pillow in one hand and one of her musty old books in the other. She thought she was having another bizarre dream when she told her she was going to teach her how to make feathers float. "I think she told me what I was before she told me happy birthday," she beamed, enjoying the warm fuzzies she felt talking about her.

"That sounds like her," he said. "I had more of a muggle experience. Both of my parents had their magic bound and they bound mine as soon as I got it without telling me."

"How did Grams know?"

"She knew my parents- knew what they were, anyway- but I have a feeling she would've known regardless," he cut himself off by handing her the book. "She was working on this for the department. It's a spellbook. I want you to have it."

"She wrote this?" Bonnie asked, pressing the book against her chest.

"Yeah," he reinforced the answer with a nod. "I was supposed to contribute a few spells, but I lost my enthusiasm. Maybe you could, I don't know, try some of the spells or finish writing it, if you want." He glanced at his watch. "I also lost my enthusiasm for after school activities, but I keep getting volunteered. I guess that's the price you pay when you don't have much else going on and your mother works in the alumni department."

"What are you volunteering for?" she asked, following him to the door.

" I'm the projector guy for Horror Fest. Are you going?"

"Doubt it." She had enough real life horror fests to last her for another couple of decades, but instead she chose a subtler excuse. "I have homework to catch up on."

Damon was in mother hen mode again and instead of being tolerably sweet, it was annoying.

Abby found him and gave him the necklace. He wouldn't tell Bonnie everything she said no matter how much she threatened him, but she was sure she'd gotten through to him. Maybe she should've been worried about the whole hunter thing, but it just seemed so vague and not urgent. All they had to go on was 1) Abby overheard a conversation about hunters downsouth and 2)Kai (a shoddy source) thought her professor was sketchy when really he was a witch too - I mean, was this considered cold, hard evidence now? Should she be spending her time sharpening her wand because of glorified hearsay and speculations from a bored boy who should've gotten on the first thing smoking to Portland weeks ago.

Apparently so.

Damon found her at Caroline's rehearsal, gave her a whirl, then clasped the necklace around her neck without so much as a 'hi'. He was dressed a lot fancier than usual and he topped his suit off with a stern glare that made her feel like she was back in the sandbox. "You're wearing it. End of discussion," he grumbled, before leaving for the date Elena mentioned a few hundred times.

She had to admit, it was a lot cuter than Emily's talisman and since Grams made it, what could be the harm in wearing it? The whole infinity symbol thing seemed to be in . . . and if it'd put Damon's mind at ease a bit it was already proving to be her favorite piece of jewelry . . . but she wasn't buying into the witchhunter hoopla.

She was only wearing it to shut everyone up.

x x x

When she fell from the clutches of one crazypants to another, she wondered when her schedule became so predictable that everyone seemed to know where she was at any given time.

Kai was leaning against the wall across from their room, and she would've pretended he was really bad wallpaper if it hadn't been for the pink backpack he was holding.

"Who'd you steal that from?"

"It's for my date."

"You? Have a date?" Her voice slipped out of interrogation mode to shocked mode so quickly that she didn't realize it until her mouth was hanging open. She couldn't help it. What self-respecting girl would go on a date with him - and his jam-stained shirt? How did he even go about asking someone out? By telling her she had nice ears or something? And how was it that everyone else seemed to glissade right into normal stuff without even lifting a finger? Caroline spent the day rehearsing while Stefan cheered her on (in his own no-humanity having way). Elena and Damon had a romantic date complete with snazzy garb. And now she gets back home to find out that Kai has managed to procure a semblance of normalcy too. Of course she was happy for her friends, keyword friends, but just wanted her own normal stuff.

"Two,actually. With-" he flipped over his hand to reveal two names written on his palm in bubble letters. "-Mandy and Jessica. They're sorority girls," he said with every bit of mischievousness in his eyes.

"With bad taste," she finished for him. "Why on earth would two sorority girls want to go out with you?"

"Because, cute is the same in the twenty-first century as it was in the twentieth," he mocked.

"Where are you even taking them?" She asked, genuinely curious to hear what he'd say.

"They're taking me to that Horror Fest movie thing everyone won't shut up about."

" That's fitting."

"You. . . wanna come?"

"No," she said, getting her key out of her pocket.

He dropped the backpack and crept behind her. "You know, Mandy and Jessica are really pretty. Such a shame they'll have their necks snapped tonight."

"You're just making me feel better about wishing you were still trapped in 1903- without insulated socks."

She unlocked the door, stepped over the threshold and slammed the door between where it should've closed and Kai's foot. He pushed it open, but stayed out in the hall.

"I bet i'd be gold star behavior worthy if you kept an eye on me," he said. "We could work on a plan. You like doing that."

She ignored him. Threats didn't work. Violence didn't work. Magic didn't work.

Ignoring him seemed to be the best option.

"Kai-pie, you ready?" came a perky voice and another perkier one followed with "We're leaving now."

"I'm gonna have to take a rain check."

"Why?" one whined. "I thought you were pumped about going?"

"I just . . ." he scratched his head. "Don't feel like hearing you two morons try to out-dumb the other to get my attention all night." If they had magic, Kai would've been peeling himself off of the wall, but since they weren't, they settled for an old-fashioned "Screw you" and went on with their night.

Four heels clacked in the opposite direction.

A door slammed shortly after.

X X X X

Her night catching up on homework morphed into a quick nap and another hall-monitor session where she had to search for Caroline and Stefan. She found them at the Skull bar. They were dancing and groping, but playing nicely outside of that. Fangs in. Surrounding heads still on. All was well. Plus, most of the students were at Horror Fest, so the pickings were slim, thankfully.

On her way back to the dorms, it started pouring down.

Not like a poetic, romantic drizzle, but the rough rain that stings your skin and makes you look like a drowned rat.

Even while walking up the steps she felt like she was lugging around tombstones.

It was the perfect outfit to get attacked in . . . and by _perfect_ _,_ she meant not perfect.

She barely had to time react before a vial filled with fluorescent orange liquid curved out of a dark corner and toward her at world series speed.

Bonnie collapsed just in time to miss it.

Thuds, booms and bams followed when it cracked against the wall, bounced against the hardwood floor, then burst into flames that made shadows look bigger and the hallway have an orangey glow. Her muscles stiffened from the pure shock of it all, locking her into a crouched position that made her look like a gargoyle.

The bastard who attacked her ran in the opposite direction.

Their feet pounded against the floor in a rhythmic way.

Her heartbeat drummed in her chest, and for a second she only saw red.

She swayed to her feet in soggy boots and charged in the same direction that the vial came from. _"_ _Motus Cantoreum_ _!"_ she hollered.

Bonnie still heard the pitter patter of shoes- this time getting further away. " _Motum Cantoreum_ _!"_ she hollered again, tracking the noises her assailant made down the steps. She braced herself by holding the handrail. She caught a glimpse of a hooded figure running toward the emergency exit. . . then out of the emergency exit. . . " _Motum_ _-"_ she stopped once she realized her voice sounded a lot more masculine than she was comfortable with, except it wasn't her voice. The spell-bomber finished with " _Cantoreum_ " and gripped the rail looking just as pissed as she felt when his spell didn't work.

Kai's jaw clenched. "Believe me now?"


	3. Chapter 3

**OK. back.**

* * *

 **HUNTED**

 _Persuasion_

"Damon's right. If they're coming after witches, you can't stay here. It's too dangerous," said Elena.

Bonnie pulled back the covers on her bed. She'd finally gotten her hands to stop trembling long enough to use them. Her brain was still darting from one horrific scenario to the next and her friends were determined to add more fury to the mix. She'd finally gotten a semi-steady routine going. Weekdays on campus. Weekends at the boardinghouse. Now Elena was dead set, no pun intended, on shipping her off somewhere where witch hunters or wifi couldn't find her.

"I'm always in danger," Bonnie pointed out. "Or dead," she added with a shrug. "Just another day at the office."

"Sometimes you're oddly adorable," said Damon. "This wouldn't be one of those times."

" I can handle this. I was just off my game tonight. The next hunter that comes-"

"-Will get their face melted off?" Damon finished.

"Not what I was going to say, but I like that option better," she slid into bed, pulling the blanket up to her chest.

"Nice plan. One teeny-tiny problem, Bon-bon," Damon sat at the foot of her bed. "Your magic didn't work. Kai's magic didn't work. They have some kind of magical get out of jail free card."

"I'm not leaving school," she shook her head to drive her argument home. "I'm not. If hunters want us badly enough i'm not safe any where I go." She wanted to add that she was never safe, but emphasizing that would've done her more harm than good. With the way they were acting, she'd be locked in one of the boardinghouse cells before sunrise.

Elena's eyes widened and her mouth morphed into the shape of a Cheerio. "The lakehouse!" She looked at Damon, then back at Bonnie when she couldn't read his expression. "I doubt they'd find you at the lakehouse."

"Spending all my time alone. Isolated in a spooky cabin without my magic," she narrowed her eyes until they were basically closed. Perfect, since she was so tired of talking about all the hunter stuff. "Sounds like fun."

Elena nodded, biting down on her lip until the next place flashed in her head. "Well, what about the boardinghouse?"

Damon chimed in this time. "Not a good idea. They probably know to look there, depending on how long they've been following her."

"Gram's house?" she fired back before he'd even gotten the last word out.

"Again, risky."

Elena plopped on the edge of her bed. "What about a room somewhere as far away from here as possible? It could be a mini-vacay, to clear your head, go to the spa . . . besides, i'm the one who forced you to register this semester. Maybe . . . maybe you needed a break anyway after ... everything that happened."

"I don't need a break," she objected. "I need people to stop deciding what I need."

Damon glared at Bonnie, and Bonnie glared back with equal intensity.

"Somewhere far away. Now we're on the same page, Ms. Doe eyes."

After he pointed at Elena, he tossed his cellphone on Bonnie's lap.

She rolled her eyes as both of her friends watched her with expectant glances - Elena's way more confused than Damon's.

"Go ahead, have a peek," he urged in that fake innocent voice that made her want to de-fang him.

Still, she found herself just curious enough to pick the phone up. On the screen was an article titled, 10 Things You'll Love About Portland. Once her eyes shot back up at him, nearly burning him without contact, he threw a chipper "And look at number three. Food trucks," her way. "Plus, you'll have your own personal tour guide. Granted he's been away for some time, he should still know his way around."

Her tongue nearly collapsed once the words stampeded out of her mouth "Are you crazy, Damon?" She toyed with the idea of hurling the phone and watching it bounce off his empty head. "You're seriously saying that I should go from hunters to a psycho who'd try to kill me way before anyone else could."

"Hear me out. . ." he said. "He won't kill you because 1) I'd rip him apart inch by annoying inch then use his blood for pancake syrup. 2) I'll check in with you everyday. 3) He needs you. 4) I'd tear him apart inch by annoying inch then moonwalk through what ever is left of him."

Slow applause followed by combat boots stomping against the creaky floorboards interrupted them. "You don't get nearly enough credit for your verbiage."

"I thought I told you to wait outside, Kai" Damon managed to say through melded teeth.

"It's safer in here . . . and warmer."

"It's warmer," said Bonnie. "But I wouldn't say safer."

Damon affirmed that by dropping his shoulders and looking ready to pounce to his feet at any moment. Kai tilted his head to the side and stuffed his hands into his pockets. The only thing missing was a hair-flip to complete his performance. He honed in on the only other witch in the room.

"We're on the same team, like it or not. Unless you want to post flyers on campus and start your own witch protection program with a bunch of amateurs," he pointed out. "I'm the leader of a coven. We'll get back our magic, gut these hunters, then you can go back to hating me."

"I'd never stop hating you," she said in a sing-songy way and then seeing that little smirk on his face made her remember what a crafty little so-and-so he was capable of being. She fought not to flap her arms like a seal from the excitement of possibly figuring out his endgame. "How do we know he isn't the one orchestrating all of this? Why were you even at the dorms? I bet the Portland thing was his idea too."

He leered.

"Oh, yeah. I'm so obsessed with you that i'd convince someone to throw some magical bomb thingie at you, disable our magic and have me chase them down, only to give up and not coming out as the hero in this lame story," he stepped forward, closer to her bed. She could tell he was feeling bolder. Every time he felt pleased with himself his eyes glimmered - not that she payed that much attention to him. She just had to look for things like that because, well, the boy was nuts. Kai continued "Give me a little more credit than that. If I orchestrated anything, I'd hope it turned out differently than this."

"Maybe you're just not as smart as you think," she suggested, feeling satisfied when his jaw twitched. His smarts were a definite sore spot for him. She'd have to keep that in mind.

"I thought that too, Bon, but what about Abby?" Elena reminded. "As slimy as Kai is, I don't think he's behind this."

"Thank you, Elena," he placed a hand over his chest."Warms my heart to see someone finally defend my honor."

"I wasn't defending you," she snipped. "And I don't think the Portland thing is a good plan. Who's to say he won't try to hurt her?"

Finally something Bonnie could agree with. "I'm sure he has a knife all sharpened and shiny with my name on it," she threw in.

For a moment Kai looked hurt, his eyelids low and heavy, but she didn't buy it. He'd do, say or look any kind of way to get what he wanted - and she still had no idea what that was. He cleared his throat. "You'd believe anything to go against me, wouldn't you?" he said. "I don't want to hurt you, Bonnie. I don't know how many different ways there are to say witch hunters are here and we need a plan."

"Fine. I'll come up with something on my own." How many witches without magic does it take to take down hunters anyway? Or maybe Kai was right, but she didn't need to link up with him, and she certainly didn't need to go to Portland with him. Her time was better spent researching than arguing with everyone about packing up and running from a fight. She had to tolerate Damon and Elena's mothering, but she didn't have to tolerate Kai. "Get out," the two words sounded more like a threat than a request.

"Or what? You'll use magic on me? Oops. . . I mean you'll . . . hmmm" he purred, stealing yet another step closer to her bed. "I'm sorry, what will you do?"

"My magic may be out of commission, but I have two pals without humanity and they'd love drinking from a magic siphoning coven leader. Sounds pretty exclusive."

"Make all the threats you want," he said, now standing at the foot of the bed. He kneeled, resting both hands on either side of her feet and looking up at Damon. "I know everyone hates me. But the fact remains that she doesn't know what she's up against. . . These hunters . . . they don't give up. Once they have their targets, and may I point out that Bonnie's obviously one of them, they won't stop until it's over. I think we all know what I mean by over."

"And why aren't you a target?" Elena asked.

"Who says i'm not?" he pointed out, as if it should've been obvious.

"Did they come after you?" Damon frowned, almost looking sympathetic- almost- until he shook his head. "And they failed. Just can't find good hunters these days, can you?"

"Apparently not. We seem to be all set on the homicidal vampire front, though," Kai made a clicking noise with his mouth as if to say checkmate.

"What's that suppose to mean?" said Elena.

"Just how it sounds. Duh."

"Cut the crap," Bonnie's eyes bubbled over like pools of hot tar. "Were you attacked before tonight or not?"

He shrugged. "Some weird things have been happening, but-"

"-Weird things? Oh!"Bonnie managed to stop herself from laughing long enough to blurt out "Like sorority girls chasing after you like you're this decade's Luke Perry?" Of course. It was all clear now. They were only dating him to kill him. The only logical explanation and she'd totally missed it. She was definitely off her game. "They didn't really want to go out with you," and her grin shot daggers at him. "Maybe those "sorority girls" were hunters."

He ignored her, rising to his full height and hovering over them. "If you want in, meet me behind the Douglas building. No bags."

"You're leaving now?" she asked, unsure of why she'd asked.

"After class tomorrow," he said with a wink. "We have a quiz."

And she found herself wanting to tell him to be careful or something like that- but she rolled her eyes at herself instead. This was a guy who went around stabbing people, spiking drinks with vervain, breaking bottles like a rowdy reality television celeb and overall just being a menace. . . If he was careful, then he was careful, and if not, well, she was sure there were some grunge kids on campus who would've freaked out over getting all his 90s paraphernalia.

 **X X X X**

"It's Jo-" Elena breathed out through a smile. "I have to-" Damon kissed her again and she shut up to savor it for a few seconds before sobering up. "She wouldn't call me if it wasn't important."

"Since cake flavors are extremely important."

Bonnie groaned, put her pillow over her head and tossed a muffled "I'm still awake, you know?" their way. Because they had an annoying habit of forgetting that way more often than she would've liked.

Somehow Elena managed to escape Damon's death grip on her waist and strut over to the fireplace with her cellphone in tow. "Jo ... Oh ... Are you sure? ... No, it's okay. I'm on my way..." She swung her tote bag over her shoulder. "Jo needs an extra hand at the hospital. I'm going to help her for a couple of hours."

Whining and debate ensued.

Elena was about to promised to ... "Gross," Bonnie said before she could tell him something icky.

"Just wait until you meet someone and you're bringing him back here," Elena teased as she swayed out of the room.

 **X X X**

"You know I can handle this," Bonnie told Damon for what seemed to be the billionth time that night. They were sprawled across her twin bed. She hated repeating herself. It made her feel unsure- like she had to prove herself to him all over again. Then she made a last ditch effort to get him on her team again. "And what about Stefan and Caroline? They need all the babysitting they can get. Your talents are totally being wasted on me, by the way."

"I'll pass on Blondie and Clyde," he patted her leg then said "Nice try."

"You really think I can't beat them, don't you?"

"I think we've never dealt with this kind of villain before and until we do research you should take a little vacay."

"With Kai," she said, not sure if it was a question or a statement. Damon hummed something inaudible in response, but it wasn't a denial of her question ... Or statement ... And that hurt more than it enraged her.

She shifted in her spot, folding her arms across her chest and looking up at the ceiling. She chewed on her bottom lip, like a piece of salt water taffy then only after it was red and riddled with teeth marks, she told him "So after everything he did to me ... I'm supposed to just forget it? I'm supposed to just shut up and move on?"

"I'm on your side."

"Well, act like it," she demanded. "Stop trying to get me to run and help me beat this." That last part sounded more like a whimper than an order.

"I-" he forced air out of his lungs, then swallowed. " I don't forgive Kai for what he did to you, but I need you to trust me me. First the hunters. Kai after that. I promise."

"

X

 **CLASS CANCELED** was scribbled on a piece of bright yellow post it paper and stuck on the door. Everyone one else supposedly got the memo because she was the only one hanging outside - scanning the note as if she were looking for the fine print. She leaned in so closely that her eyelashes nearly swiped it. Professor I-take-this-class-way-too-seriously, didn't seem like the type to play hooky, especially on quiz day. A quiz she woke up at 5am to cram for. She was sure she would've pulled at least a B- on it. Funny. Even when she didn't mean to, her professor had a way of screwing her over. Now she was going to have to slosh her way through Trees and their meanings because she could already feel the information falling out of her fried brain.

Coffee.

She needed coffee.

And possibly a shrink ... Because on her way to the cafe ... she thought she saw Professor I-take-this-class-way-too-seriously sitting at her desk ...

There were two bay windows, and she saw inside the class from the courtyard. Not very much, but she saw enough to stop trekking towards her double shot espresso. Her hair couldn't be confused for anyone else's. Who else had massive gray curly fry shaped hair with French bulldog printed headbands? She rested her own case. But why would she cancel when she was sitting right there? And why was she so still? She hadn't moved since she stopped in shock.

"She's dead," said a voice that was getting way too familiar for her liking. "Don't worry, I didn't do it. Then again, you'd be more of a suspect than me."

Bonnie was surprised at how her body worked now. Before she could process the news, her legs were moving toward the crime scene. The weird part was that she had no plan. She just knew that she needed to see the body before someone else did.

Bites.

She had to make sure there were no bites. Caroline and Stefan. She couldn't let them get exposed, especially not like that, not with their humanity off.

Fingers dug into her arm and nearly snatched her off her feet. Her chest swelled with anger. She could feel the acid of it trickling through her body.

"Don't touch me." Bonnie yanked her arm away from him. "Don't you dare touch me!" She hissed. And he just stood there, his expression blank as if she were telling him what the cafeteria was serving for lunch that day. No remorse. No embarrassment. No anger. Nothing.

Then after what felt like a full minute he smiled, but she anticipated something sinister to follow and she physically braced herself for it.

Instead of backing away from her Kai closed the space between them. "I'm not sure why I keep trying to stop you from doing stupid things. You obviously get off on it," he said. "Maybe you have a death wish. I mean who can blame you? What do you have besides a perpetual second place trophy?"

She didn't know how to respond. The sting of his words stunned her. Her expression twisted- eyes squinted, mouth pursed into a little pink knot and a faint line separated her brows.

"It's better than what you have."

"Are you sure about that?" He shrugged. "From where I'm standing, your precious Baby Blue Eyes, wants to pawn you off on me so he can be lovey dovey with Elena without worrying about your drama-"

"Shut the hell up," she threatened. "You're just mad because no one cares whether you're here wasting air or in the 90s trying to kill yourself."

" Oh, you'd know about that, wouldn't you, Bonnie? Except you're so pathetic you had to do it drinking Damon's bourbon right next to Damon's car. And you want to know what he was doing while you-" Air came barging out of his lungs and blew in her face mid sentence. He stumbled back . Bonnie lurched forward to shove him again, but he grabbed both of her wrist and squeezed them so hard she knew he'd leave a mark.

"You know I'm pretty sure our professor is a witch ... I mean was a witch," he whispered in a cutting tone as her back plowed against a steel pole. She howled a spell he knew well, but once again her magic didn't work. Next she dug her fingernails into any skin on his arm that she could reach. Kai sucked in air between his teeth while tightening his grip on her wrists. "And guess what else I'm sure of?" He groaned when he felt her dig hard enough to draw blood. "I'm sure that if you barge in that classroom playing Wonder Woman, the person hiding in the storage closet will get to scratch you off his list."

"That's none of your fucking business," she seethed, and the words felt so foreign coming from her that he shut up to examine her stoney features.

"It is my fucking business. Turns out the cost of living is a drag these days," he grunted as he pushed his bony knee into the softness of her thighs until she whimpered in response. Now he was so close she could practically taste the mint on his breath. "Damon offered me enough cash to get back on my feet ... I only get it if I get you to my humble abode."

"Damon would never do that. Try a little harder."

"The way your eyes get all protect-y when you're defending him? Cute. Pathetic. But cute," he said, sneaking a phoney smile in to further irritate her.

"Ugh, can we just cut the dramatics already? I have dress rehearsals in ten minutes. Move," said Caroline, pulling them apart with ease. She ignored the crescent shaped pools of blood that Bonnie's fingernails had left on his arms. She grabbed her shoulders. "Look at me."

"Caroline, what-"

"Just listen to me," she interrupted. _"School sucks. You're tired. Kai sucks too, but you want to go to ... "_

And then things in her brain started to fog like one of those old cheesy vampire films. Fog. A yellow eyelet sundress. Pink lipgloss. And wavy, blonde hair blowing in the wind. _Portland. Portland. Portland._


End file.
